Interview with Nigerian top model, Ndidi Odogwu

 Ndidi Odogwu is half-Cameroonian, half-Nigerian from Delta State. She has worked with several brands and done numerous fashion shows including, Maki Oh, House of Nwocha, Vogue, Mango, Grey, Iamisigo, House Of Marie, Sleek, This Day Style, Complete Fashion, Total Wrap, Imperial Leather, Diamond Bank, Elite model look 2009, Arise Fashion Show, Lagos Fashion and Design Week, Music Meets Runway, Complete Fashion Show, Clan Fashion Show, Copa Lagos, Vlisco, Virgin Atlantic Show, to mention a few. Click to read more about the beauty.

OmogeMura: What inspired you into modelling?
Ndidi: I’ve always loved fashion and every time I watched fashion on TV and saw the models on the runway, I always wanted to be one of them but then my agent at the time said I wasn’t tall enough and I wouldn’t make it and that just made me want it even more. So I met a top model (Aisha Danjuma) while I was in school and she hooked me up with Elohor (Beth models) who signed me up on the spot.

OmogeMura: What was your first break in the industry?
Ndidi: My first break was when I was selected for the Elite Model Look Nigeria 2009

OmogeMura: You graduated from the University of Lagos how has studying Creative Arts aided your modelling career?
Ndidi: Creative arts has helped not only my career but also every area of my life as it not only made me an independent person but it taught me to give 100% in whatever I do. It has also geared me into thinking outside the box and this made my modelling abilities flow naturally.

OmogeMura: What have you struggled with the most in your life?
Ndidi: Nothing really, I thank God it’s been good so far.

OmogeMura: What are you proudest of in your career?
Ndidi: I’m proud of how far I went even though I wasn’t as tall as the other girls, I’ve worked with a lot of top designers in the country and it’s been really good so far.

OmogeMura: You’ve worked at some of the industry’s most illustrious places. What did you learn at each place and what were some of your favourite memories?
Ndidi: Every photo shoot is different, different designers want different things and I always learnt more after every shoot or fashion show, I learnt to fight my shyness and work on my confidence and I got better after every job. My favourite memory was when I did the Elite Model Look, it was so much fun and that was when I became one of the models I always watched on TV. Arise Magazine Fashion week 2011/2012 is another memory I hold dear because I was on the runway with a lot of international models and I met and worked with a lot of designers, it was a beautiful experience. Another good memory was my Vogue shoot with Reze Bonna, it was challenging but was worth it.

OmogeMura: Who are some of your favourite all time models and for what reason?
Ndidi: I like Kate Moss because she’s inspired me to keep pushing, regardless of what anyone said. She’s not so tall as well and she made it and it was that thought that kept me focused. I also love Naomi Campbell. I love her walk and her attitude on the runway, how she sells herself as a model and at the same time sells the designers outfit, also Heidi Klum.

OmogeMura: What do you see as the qualities that will help models make it?
Ndidi: People think being a successful model is about how tall you are or how skinny or how pretty, it’s not; it’s about how well you can sell a designers outfit whether you like that particular outfit or not. Your confidence, how u walk, your grace, your carriage, your charisma, your facial expression and also your character because if you have a bad character, designers that worked with you before wouldn’t want to work with you again.

OmogeMura: Who’s your favourite designer?
Ndidi: My favourite designer is Maki oh. I love everything she makes. She’s so talented and she’s a really nice person too.

OmogeMura: Who’s your favourite photographer?
Ndidi: That will be Reze Bonna. He is the nicest person ever and he is a super talented photographer.

OmogeMura: What’s your favourite perfume?
Ndidi: I love Chance by Chanel.

OmogeMura: What do you most dislike about yourself?
Ndidi: I can procrastinate for Africa..loooool.

OmogeMura: Who is the person you most admire in the world?
Ndidi: My mum 

OmogeMura: What is your biggest regret?
Ndidi: I have none.

OmogeMura: What personal possession do you most value?
Ndidi: I value every single thing I have, from the smallest earring to my most expensive shoe.

OmogeMura: Your favorite color?
Ndidi: I love white, anything white to me is beautiful.

OmogeMura: What is your biggest fear?
Ndidi: My biggest fear is not achieving my dreams, going for it and not being successful.

OmogeMura: If you could change the world, what would you change?
Ndidi: I would stop corruption, especially in our country Nigeria. Corruption is killing us slowly. We are suppose to be the giants of Africa but what do we have to show for it?? Nothing!!

Interview done by Funmi Ishola.

Oluchi, Nigeria’s contribution to global modelling

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By OKEY OBIOZO

When beautiful Oluchi Onweagba-Orlandi won the maiden edition of the M-Net Face of Africa (now Nokia Face of Africa) competition in 1998, it was like a dream to her friends and family members.

Her winning the competition was remarkable because considering her humble background and disposition in life, nobody gave her a chance.

However, with the encouragement of people around her, she was able to prove significantly that where there is will power, there must be breakthrough. Her success story has remained an inspiration and motivation to many who are aspiring for new accomplishments around the world.

She was born on August 1, 1982. She grew up in Ojuelegba, a suburb of Lagos, with her two brothers and sisters. Her father was a civil servant and her mother a nurse.

Oluchi, as she is famously called, grew up ordinarily like every other child in her neighbourhood. So, from inception, there was nothing special about her to indicate that she would later in life make the spectacular success that she has become.

As luck would have it,when Onweagba was 16 years old, she won the “Face of Africa” contest. Like her first name that means God’s work in Igbo dialect, her ethnic background in Nigeria, she truly was portrayed to be seen as God’s masterpiece of creation, a feat that helped her to emerge winner in the contest. Name, they say, imparts destiny and in Onweagba’s case, it was proved to be true.

However, she was urged by a family friend to enter for the M-Net “Face of Africa” preliminary screening at the M-Net office in Victoria Island, Lagos without any prior grooming about modelling. It was the agency that brushed up her to be one of Nigeria’s entrants for the 1998 competition.

This was despite the fact that, growing up, she had maintained a relative ignorance towards fashion and modelling, but with the support of her family and friends, she decided to compete in the first-ever continent-wide modelling competition organized by the South African channel M-Net in collaboration with Elite Model management.

Courageously, she won the competition at just 17 years old. The fame of her heroic achievement made the Elite Model management to award her a three-year modelling contract.

The contract gave her the required exposure to mount the world stage and showcase her talent to the admiration of great fashion designers and international modelling companies that quickly saw in her raw talent waiting to be tapped.

She, thereafter, took modelling as a full career striding so many run-ways across the world. In order to attract the appropriate clientele needed to project her career, she relocated to America.

After moving to New York City, where she still lives, Onweagba graced the covers of Italian Vogue, I-D, Elle, Untold and Surface magazines; she also was featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and other national editions of Vogue around the world.

She became the face of campaigns for Gianfranco Ferré, Gap, Express, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, as well as working for Victoria’s Secret.

Onweagba’s runway experience has been with John Galliano, Christian Dior, Costume National, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani, amongst others, in London, Milan, Tokyo and Paris. She has worked with such notable photographers as Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, and Patrick Demarchelier.

Beyond modelling, she tries to serve as a role model for other aspiring talents in Nigeria, especially young girls. She volunteers her time and her image for such NGOs as LEAP Africa, an entrepreneurship incubator and NIPRO. She also is continuing her higher education, having studied for an associate’s degree in the New York City educational system.

After her three-year contract with Elite expired, she signed with DNA Model management. The highlight of her career so far was when she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue four times, from 2005 to 2008.

In 2008, she launched a modelling agency in South Africa, O-Model Africa, with offices in Johannesburg and recently in Cape Town. The 2008 winner of M-Net Face of Africa, Kate Tachie-Menson, was awarded a US $50,000 modelling contract by O-Model Africa.

In August 2005, Onweagba married her long time companion, Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi and the union has produced a son.

The supermodel currently runs her production outfit, LuLu Productions, which will produce the African version of the America’s Next Top Model reality show. It is a show that is gaining acceptance across Africa and is billed to bring up more raw talents from the continent to the world.

Complete Fashion magazine editor Franca Asindi Left for Blanck Digital

Franca Asindi Chiedi, the lady who turned Complete Fashion magazine around and made it the highest selling glossy magazine in Nigeria, has left as the mag's editor. Franca (pictured left) left the position about a month ago after relocating to the UK to join her husband.

Dumebi Agbakoba, (pictured right) of Side View magazine has taken over as the acting editor.

Franca is now the editor of Blanck Digital - a digital fashion, entertainment and lifestyle magazine